Extreme driving!

Like many people today, I am stuck at home gazing out at the blizzard...I have been out though. Had to get to the office to do several urgent things. The journey there was fairly intense - several hairy 'no brakes, no brakes, no brakes, ahh, brakes!' moments. Having got there and done my urgent things, however, I thought it best not to stay there, as the snow was clearly going to keep coming, and possibly make eventual journey home even more extreme. So here I am, taking the opportunity to blog instead. All a bit annoying really, since I was due to meet a man about some lovely new handbags for the website, and would have liked to test out a handbag's ability to hold an A4 pad for a customer who has just emailed me - sadly me and said bag are now miles apart.

Anyway, enough of all that. I have had a most lovely weekend. On Saturday evening I went, with many family and friends, to a charity ball in aid of this brilliant charity http://www.poppyfieldsappeal.co.uk The theme was 'Royal', and so we had a room full of characters including Elvis's (should that be Elvi?), Ozzy Osbournes (think about it), several Cleopatra's, a Marie Antoinette, several Robin Hoods (requires a small amount of lateral thinking), a Princess Fiona (not sure I'm brave enough to go out 'greened up), a Cavalier soldier complete with curly wig (my brother), a Prince Charles complete with fabulous outsize ears (my other brother), and me and my sister-in-law in royal blue with tiaras fashioned by yours truly. My first ever attempt at tiaras, and my sister-in-law was actually asked where she got hers from!


The ball raised an amazing £6,500 to go with the many thousands already raised by this brilliant appeal for Birmingham Children's Hospital. Please do visit the website (and their FB page) and help out if you can!

Kate finally gets to America!

Well, I have been most remiss is not posting since…July! Blimey!

Anyway, since July I have two fabulous holidays – one on the West Coast of Scotland (large quantities of shortbread consumed) and one in Florida (large quantities consumed).

It was my first time in the USA and I was intrigued to find out exactly what the access is like for disabled people, having been told how superior it is to the UK. I was not misinformed. I’m sorry to say we are lagging behind badly in this country.

Starting in Disneyland, the efforts which have been gone to, to make so many rides accessible, is amazing. I don’t know a theme park in this country that has anything like the number of attractions and rides fully accessible to disabled people. I went on both Toy Story rides, the Finding Nemo ride, Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, a magic carpet ride we won’t talk about (suffice to say that I am chicken, and when the man said “hey, we’re gonna send you guys round again” I begged to be let off a ride that my small nephews thought was fabulous – it was not my finest hour), the Jungle Cruise, the Safari and the Bugs show. And I’m sure I’ve missed some off that list!

After the first week, we moved on to Miami Beach, where we ate breakfast in Gloria Estefan’s hotel on Ocean Drive (lovely scrambled eggs which she clearly made for me herself, as I am her biggest fan) and also had dinner on Ocean Drive, where we got the shock of our lives on discovering that the margueritas as big as our heads were $25. The morale of the story is, if you have to ask the price, you probably can’t afford it.

It was very interesting to see Miami, but I’m glad we only stayed there one full day. Crockett and Tubbs didn’t appear, which was most disappointing frankly.

After that, it was on down to the Florida Keys, which I heartily recommend. We went on a glass-bottom boat at the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo – it went really fast out to the 3^rd largest barrier reef in the world and then floated over it so we could gaze down at the little fishes. Brilliant! Even more amazing was the Dolphin Research Centre in Key West – up close and personal with the lovely dolphins, who are not captive and are completely free to come and go. I couldn’t get down onto a pontoon to meet a dolphin, but my brother took some photos of me with dolphin swimming around behind, and after a few minutes, I’m sure he (dolphin, not brother) worked out what we were doing, and kept swimming slowly past me, eyeing me the whole time. They really are amazing creatures.

We spent 2 nights in Key West, which is an amazing place and I would definitely go back. Duval Street is where it all happens – great shops, restaurants and bars – and every night everyone watches the sunset from the harbour, surrounded by street entertainers. Me, my brother and sister-in-law had a great night in 'Sloppy Joe's' - make sure you go if you're ever in Key West!

We found the American people to be lovely – complete strangers say hello to you on the street, which rarely happens here! And every single meal we had was lovely – I got the impression they don’t know how to serve bad food!

Looking forward to going back!

Puddles

I am quite a shallow person. No really, it's true. I love handbags, jewellery, clothes, shoes, George Michael - in fact anything which will have absolutely no bearing on world peace or the ozone layer. A friend once commented that he had met puddles with more depth to them. Slightly unfair, I felt - I do recycle and sponsor a dog (his name is Kurt) with the Dog's Trust. That came out wrong - I don't recycle the dog. Nevertheless, pretty things do excite me - which is why I am loving this zebra print cuff by Ros Mari Jewellery www.ros-mari.co.uk.
Ros Mari runs a very lovely online jewellery shop and you can get 25% off anything by using the code RM01-08. Fabulous excuse to treat ourselves!

Staying with the theme of shallowness, if you haven't seen it yet, you must go and see Mamma Mia! I saw it last night with 5 friends and relations - much to the shock of the cinema usher who told us only 4 people could sit together next to the wheelchair space - she must still be reeling from the phenomenon of a disabled person having more than 4 friends. It was the first film I've ever seen where the audience applauded at the end!

I found a unicorn

Yes, that is correct. For several years now I have been searching in vain for a battery pack for my little self-propelled lightweight wheelchair, so that I could take it on holiday and still be able to get around independently. I kept hearing that it does exist, but no one knew who made it - I asked several makers of battery packs which power self-propelled chairs but the actual operation of it is done by the person pushing (absolutely no good for a control-freak like me) and they all claimed not to know who made such a thing (a conspiracy, surely). As I had commented to everyone who was sick of hearing about it (you know who you are), it was like searching for a unicorn.

At the weekend, whilst visiting the Mobility Roadshow, a flunkie from just such a company, who make the ones I don't want, told me he had no idea who made battery packs you could operate yourself. Well, flunkie, you should do your homework on your own industry, because the very people were only yards away from you in the corner of the room.

As I approached it, it seemed to call out to me - "buy me Kate, I want to go on holiday with you". I took it for a spin, didn't kill myself or anyone else, was very happy. Until the nice man selling them said, that'll be £4,000 please. Not having £4,000 in my back pocket just at that precise moment, I had to decline. So, I left without my unicorn, and considering my (legal) fundraising options.

At last, something in common with Daniel Craig...

I was most distraught to read today that Mr Bond cut his finger a few days ago during an action scene. Having broken my arm last autumn during an 'action sequence' of my own, I am clearly the only person in the world who feels his pain and is qualified to soothe his brow. I have a first aid kit and a (lapsed) first aid certificate. Step aside Bond Girls.

Oh to have a talent....

Those of you who know me will know that I have few talents (unless co-ordinating my outfits is a talent...), although I can create pretty pictures in cross-stitch, which my relatives and friends then have to look at for the rest of their lives (unless a burglar with a thing for needlework 'helps them out'). I know nothing about art but I know what pictures I like and what I don't, which is why our friend Roger Griffith's website is so brilliant. Roger is a watercolour artist, and some of his beautiful works of art are displayed (and some are for sale!) on his brand new website. If you like a good picture, you must go and have a wander round - 'Schist village, Portugal' is my particular favourite...

A man after my own heart...

Those who have the misfortune of knowing me well (I will pay for their counselling when I'm rich) will know that I dread running over small, furry creatures in my car - today I saw someone's very expensive cat (I could tell it was expensive because it was grey with hardly any fur - unless they'd shaved it to achieve the expensive effect....) crossing the road in front of me. I almost got out and escorted it to the kerb myself...but never fear, the little kitty made it. I must admit I did think at the time that a cat that expensive should really have had a bodyguard...

I am therefore very impressed with Lewis Hamilton, managing to avoid the beaver who decided to race his car in the grand prix yesterday. He got his priorities right in my opinion - take out Raikonnen but drive round the superfast beaver!